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Deal’s Barnes Bonus – the gift that keeps on giving

Some of you may recall my recent suggestion that Nathan Deal write Roy Barnes a thank-you note.

After all, I said, the Republican governor owes some of his campaign fundraising success to Barnes, the former Democratic governor he beat last year.

Why?

Since 2000, incumbents and other well-known candidates have had a leg up, thanks to a campaign finance law Barnes helped get passed.

It lifted the old $1,000 limit on contributions in non-election years. The limit is now $6,300 per election — regardless of the year.

Barnes offered several reasons for supporting the measure.

Among them was that it stemmed from recommendations of a panel he’d appointed to suggest campaign reforms. Moreover, he said, it required candidates for state office to file campaign finance reports online and that independent expenditures be disclosed.

But it also was a political gold mine for incumbents, especially the incumbent governor at the time — Barnes.

Here’s why: Incumbents often decide to run again long before challengers emerge. So letting people raise large sums early often gives incumbents a big edge because they’re the ones out shaking the political money trees.

Thus Barnes reported that, at the end of 2001, he’d banked $10.7 million. Most of the money he rounded up in 2001 was in $1,000-plus amounts.

Never mind that Barnes lost in 2002 despite raising nearly $20 million; all that money still gave him a boost.

The law, of course, also helped Republican Sonny Perdue – who beat Barnes in 2002 – amass a huge war chest well in advance of his successful 2006 re-election bid.

And even though he was out of office last year, it helped Barnes when he tried to win back his old office.

As former governor and easily the best-known candidate, Barnes ran as the closest thing there was to an incumbent. And he raised about $1.6 million more that year than he could have under the old law.

Sure, the law helped other candidates, including Deal, who raised about $480,000 more that year than he could have under the old law.

But no one came close to Barnes in raking in $1,000-plus donations in 2009.

Although a few elected officials are doing so this year, Deal leads the pack.

I recently described how to calculate his ongoing Barnes Bonus. But we had to wait until last week, when mid-year campaign finance reports arrived.